The Tale of A Reluctant Princess
by GeneralTravelerKid
Summary: This is a Silver Millennium-era love story for, who else? Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion. However, many characters and ideas from the story come from the Question-the-Senshi blog on tumblr. If you haven't checked out that blog, please do so! It is AMAZING and it has more Sailor Moon goodness than you can imagine! It's golden! Please review after you have finished reading.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! This is my first Sailor Moon fic! I just love this fandom, don't you? As you read in the summary, this story is one based largely off of the Question-the-Senshi ask blog on tumblr, which is NOT my creation, just so everyone is aware, but rather that of Sakura-Rose12. Please check it out! It's the best! And don't forget to review this story when you have finished reading! Also, Sakura-Rose12 has a lot of really nice drawings related to her Sailor Moon blog (such as pictures of her various original characters) on DeviantArt as well. Go see!**

 **P.S. Don't be angry, but just so you guys know, I AM using the English DiC dub names for the characters, as it brings back so many fantastic childhood memories for me! It's what I grew up with! (Don't worry, though. Zoisite is still a man here, although I loved Kirsten Bishop's, RIP, performance, no matter how annoying that Spongebob laugh of hers was). Enjoy!**

 **The Tale of a Reluctant Princess—Chapter One**

It was a warm summer day, a beautiful day, one with a clear blue sky and, thus, a fantastic view of Earth. Princess Serenity often liked to sit out in the gardens of the Moon's Palace and stare at the green and blue planet on days like this. It was her time to get away from all of the annoying "royal" duties that her mother, Queen Serenity, kept forcing her to have. Granted, most of these duties were simply to attend meetings about politics and the economy, in addition to enduring many lessons about the aforementioned topics, but that was truly enough to bore the poor girl to sleep. In fact, embarrassingly, she _had_ fallen asleep in a meeting a few weeks ago, thus earning a very harsh scolding from her mother.

"How do you expect anyone to take you seriously as a Queen if you can't even stay awake during so much as a meeting?" Her mother had given her a stern talking-to after the event had ended.

Princess Serenity, or Serena, as everyone she had ever known called her to distinguish her from her mother, had not had a good response to this inquiry. Actually, it had caused her to wonder the same as her mother had. How _was_ anyone supposed to take her seriously, especially when she was so hesitant and reluctant to be a Queen herself? If she had had the option, Serena would have most certainly abdicated her rule, if a Princess could even do such a thing. At this moment in her life, her heart was not in it. That is, being the future Queen of the Moon Kingdom. Maybe in a few years, when she was twenty or so, but not now. All she wanted now was to be an ordinary girl, to have fun, and to enjoy her life as a child. She had even voiced this to her mother, but, nevertheless, Queen Serenity had forced her daughter to continue her lessons and training, and had even threatened to increase them ten times over if "the irresponsible girl" ever fell asleep in front of a group of government officials again.

Today was the thirtieth of June, Serena's fourteenth birthday. It was customary when the Moon Princess reached this age for a new group of guardians, known as the Sailor Senshi, to be inducted as warriors on her behalf. Like Queen Serenity before her, Serena would be getting these guardians today. These female guardians were already good friends of Serena's and happened to be the Princesses of the Inner Planets of the Solar System: Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. Serena had known them for nearly her entire life and couldn't think of any better girls that she would have liked to guard her. But, in all honesty, the Moon Princess had to admit that her friends' new titles and duties to protect her were going to be very strange for her and definitely something that would take her a long time to get used to. They had always been her best friends, after all. She had never thought of them as members of her court.

But, maybe that was because they weren't _officially_ members, not until today.

Sighing, she looked at the beautiful planet again. She wondered if Earth's Princess, if it even had one, had to go through as much drama and reluctant change as she did. But, she didn't have time to wonder very long, because soon a very proper voice rang out from behind her.

"Princess!" the voice of Luna, one of Queen Serenity's two cat advisers from the planet Mau, drifted like an army drill sergeant's toward her.

Serena let out another sigh. "Yes, Luna?" she asked irritably, turning her head around to face the cat, who, predictably, had a very frustrated look on her furry black face.

"Her Majesty is furious with you!" the cat rebuked. "The ceremony is happening in less than twenty minutes and you haven't even begun to get dressed!"

"What's wrong with the way I'm dressed?" Serena asked, looking at her outfit. While she was not wearing her usual white Princess garbs, she didn't see anything amiss with her attire. "They're my friends, Luna! They don't care how I look!"

"No, but their _parents_ and your _mother_ certainly do! And _they_ are expecting you to dress properly for this event!" Luna shouted in anger. "Now, you go to your bedchambers and change into your formal wear, or your mother will unleash her wrath on you!" The cat looked sideways for a moment before adding, "Those were _her_ words, not mine."

The Princess rolled her eyes and cleared her throat. "Alright, I'm going. But, I still don't see what the big deal is!"

"You _won't_ see anything until you start taking your duties seriously," the cat said underhandedly.

Serena ignored the comment and trudged off to her room. She would not deny that she loved her mother with all her heart, and she understood that the Queen meant well, but sometimes, the woman's antics were too much for her daughter to handle.

After about ten minutes, or so she thought, Serena descended the luxurious staircase, almost tripping over her dress in the process, and made her way to the throne room, where she knew her mother—and quite possibly, the other planetary royal families—would be waiting.

Once she had opened the heavy ornate doors, she found her half-assumption to be correct, and her stomach knotted itself in embarrassment. She had obviously been in her room a few minutes longer than ten, it seemed, because Queen Serenity, along with Luna, the Queen's other cat adviser Artemis, and the Inner Planet royal families, including the four Senshi inductees, were indeed already standing in the room, waiting for Serena to arrive. The Moon Princess avoided her mother's eyes as she entered, but she could still feel the woman's irate gaze on her as she came to stand beside her.

However, Queen Serenity had evidently chosen to say nothing, probably to save both her daughter _and_ herself from any more humiliation than Serena had already caused, and went on with the start of the ceremony as if everything were going as planned. She stepped into the center of the room, holding several wand-like objects in her hand.

She looked out at the four young Princesses standing before her and she smiled, much more to them than to her daughter, and Serena knew it. The girl felt her face grow hot in shame.

"I gather all of you here today to bestow upon you the tremendous honor and rewarding responsibility of becoming the next generation of Sailor Senshi." The Queen eyed the four girls with respect.

"With this honor and responsibility, each of you must swear to protect the Moon Princess Serenity at all costs. You are to undergo tests of physical, mental, and emotional endurance, strength, and capability, and you are to defend the Moon Kingdom whenever the need may arise. Do you understand this responsibility?"

The four Princesses smiled and nodded. "Yes," they said in unison.

"Do you _accept_ this responsibility?" the Queen asked.

"Yes," they chorused absolutely.

"Then, I shall give each of you your Sailor pen, which will allow you to transform into your Senshi forms whenever needed," the Queen informed the girls. "One by one, you may approach me to receive your pen, when I call you by name."

She cleared her throat. "Princess Amy."

Amy, the Princess of Mercury, was by far the most bookish, if not the most intelligent, of the five Princesses present. She had short blue hair like her mother, Queen Akila, and a small, thin frame, just like Serena herself. She smiled and curtsied at the Moon Queen.

"You are to be known as Sailor Mercury," Queen Serenity stated as the girl approached her. The Queen held out one of the slender golden objects, this one with the symbol of Mercury at the top of it. It was indeed the size of a writing pen. Amy took it and curtsied again, before moving off to the side. When she turned around to face Serena and the other girls, she mouthed "Happy birthday!" excitedly to the Moon Princess.

Next, it was Mina's, the Princess of Venus, turn. She was blonde-haired and blue-eyed like Serena was, and although hers was the planet the second-closet to the Sun, she was to be leader of this new group of Senshi. (For whatever reason, Queen Serenity had obviously decided to give each girl her pen in planetary order. Serena didn't understand why, but she was not one to question her mother's choices. At least, not _these_ kinds of choices.) Mina being the leader made Serena quite happy, for the two of them got along very well. When they were younger, from the ages of about five to twelve, or at least until they hit puberty and their planetary markings began to appear on their foreheads, they would dress up in each other's clothes and hairstyles in an attempt to fool their mothers about which girl was which. Of course, neither Queen Serenity nor Queen Aiko was actually fooled, but they had laughs at their daughters' attempts at trickery all the same. They had even taken a picture once, much to the surprise of their daughters. Like Amy, upon receiving her Sailor pen, Mina curtsied for Queen Serenity and had given Serena a heart-felt "Happy birthday" when catching her eye.

Princess Lita of Jupiter was by far the most rambunctious and energetic of the group, in addition to being the tallest. Like her mother, Queen Tama, she had long brown hair and green eyes, and like Serena, she was a very talented ice skater, one of the best. About a year prior, she had won a medal on Jupiter for the sport in a children's competition, much to the envy of all the "civilian" girls of the planet. She gave a long curtsy to the Moon Queen, so long in fact that her father King Bernard cleared his throat loudly to tell her that she was taking too long with her formalities. Upon hearing his impatient vocal gesture, Lita instantly straightened up and approached the Queen to receive her pen. She gave Serena a childish little wave when turning around to face her.

Finally, Raye, the Martian Princess, was a curious case indeed. She and Serena _were_ friends, no doubt about it, but somehow, they always managed to find something to bicker about on a daily basis. Raye had her mother Queen Edana's long raven-black hair and, apparently, from what Queen Serenity had told Serena, her fiery personality, as well. This meant, among other things, that the Princess of Mars could not stand to lose an argument against anyone, no matter how wrong she actually was. After receiving her pen, she gave Serena an odd excuse for a wink and skipped off to stand next to Lita.

After each Princess had received her pen, Queen Serenity closed the ceremony and permitted the girls to give Serena her birthday presents for her to open, but not before pulling her daughter aside and scolding her in front of everyone in the room.

 _So much for sparing me any more humiliation,_ Serena thought.

"There are no words to express how disappointed I am in you, Serena." Serenity looked at her daughter with a glare that would have killed anyone else. Serena was sure of it.

"I know, Mother," the Princess stammered in a small voice, now far more embarrassed than she had been upon entering the room. She was afraid to look her mother in the eye, and she _didn't_ , until the Queen put her hands on her daughter's shoulders and forced her to do so. "I'm sorry…" After who knew how many mistakes she had made, Serena had finally apologized for all of her actions, and she _meant_ her words, but that was all she could say, because she didn't know if she would ever mess up like this again. Therefore, she could not have said, "It won't ever happen again," even if she had wanted to. She didn't want to make a promise that she couldn't keep. Not doing so was the least she could do for her mother, especially after all this.

Furthermore, there was no way of knowing by her mother's look alone if she truly believed her daughter to be sincere in her apology or not. There was silence for a moment or so before Serenity let go of her daughter's shoulders and looked over to where the other four girls were waiting for their friend.

"Go open your presents," the Queen instructed shortly, anger still very present in her eyes. "We'll talk more about this later."

Serena nodded mutely at her mother's command and stumbled guiltily toward her friends, her stomach still in a giant knot.

She had to stop being so foolish, if not for her own sake, then for her mother's. But, that didn't mean that she wanted to be a Queen.

* * *

Serenity watched with the parents of the new Senshi as her daughter opened her birthday presents. The Moon Queen and the other leaders of the Inner Planets were far enough away to talk without the young girls being able to hear them, which prompted Queen Aiko to ask this question:

"She's not interested in being Queen, is she?"

Serenity felt her gut twist, knowing that Aiko was asking about Serena. "No," she responded, looking intently at her happy, giggling daughter, her inappropriate actions clearly forgotten. "Not at all."

"But, just because she doesn't want to do something, doesn't mean that she has the right to blow off her responsibilities in such disrespectful ways," the King of Mercury, Mikalos, commented. "It's unacceptable and _highly_ inappropriate."

Serenity nodded in agreement, her eyes still on her daughter. "It is," she said.

Queen Edana, who had been the leader of Serenity's Senshi generation, let out a long sigh and, after a few moments, said something that was very painful for Serenity to hear, but at the same time, very true. "I hate to say this, Serenity, but...you _know_ Luain would be quite displeased with her."

The Moon Queen's stomach twisted even more at the thought of her deceased husband, who had always been so diligent and dedicated to everything he had ever done. No, he would most certainly not have approved of his daughter's uncaring antics or her sloppiness.

Tears began to fill Serenity's eyes as she remembered her long-buried love. "I know."

 _She remembered her daughter's birth quite vividly. What mother could forget such an experience? Yes, it had been the most miraculous occurrence that she could have ever experienced in her life. Once Serena had been born, it was as if nothing else mattered but her, and to hold Serena in her arms was the most rewarding thing in her life. The love that the Queen felt for her daughter was nothing short of unconditional. At that moment, she vowed in her heart that she would do everything in her power to protect her little Princess at all costs, just as she knew her own parents had vowed to do for her._

 _But, the birthing process itself had not come without consequences. After about five hours of intense pain brought on by many contractions, Queen Serenity was finally able to bring forth her daughter into the world. Her beloved consort, King Luain, had been by her side throughout it all, constantly holding her hand, kissing her forehead, stroking her loose silver-lavender hair, and whispering strong words of encouragement to her, as any husband who truly loved his wife with all his heart would do. By the time the Princess was born, however, the Queen had suffered some vaginal tearing, which, while very painful, was not uncommon, the physicians had assured her, especially for a first-time birth, regardless of how much the child weighed. And Serena had weighed no more than five pounds, at that! Hers was smaller than the birth weight of the average baby, which was normally seven pounds at full term. The doctors had been forced to stitch up the Queen's wounds, much to her dismay, as she had hoped that they would be able to heal on their own. Shortly after the physicians had completed their task, exhaustion finally consumed her and she fell asleep._

 _Upon awakening, she found sunlight to be pouring into her bedroom. The position of the said light and degree of its brightness prompted her to conclude that the time of day was shortly after sunrise, perhaps only around eight or nine o'clock in the morning._

 _She could not yet straighten her legs, and she had the feeling that she would not be able to do so for quite a while, the area between them being so sore and tender. She also doubted that, even if the laws of the universe had permitted the Moon Queen and her King to conceive a second child, she would not have been able to give birth naturally again._

" _There_ _you are, my love! How are you feeling?" A deep, smooth voice asked in a soft tone._

 _Serenity turned her head in the direction of the gentle sound of her husband's question and saw him seated in the rocking chair near the window, holding a tightly swaddled, dark purple bundle_ _securely in his arms._

 _The Queen sighed. "I've felt better," she said weakly. letting a small smile escape her lips at the precious sight of her husband and daughter. "How long was I asleep?"_

 _Luain glanced over at the grandfather clock on the opposite wall of the bedroom in answer to his wife's question. "A good four hours," he responded._

 _Serenity grunted and made another attempt at stretching out her legs, which had begun to cramp in their uncomfortable position, but the action was far too painful to carry out. "I must be a weakling," she commented._

 _She saw Luain shake his head in disagreement with her statement. "No," he said. "A_ human _is what you are. What you're experiencing is no different than what any other woman in the Solar System in your condition experiences, my dear. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Besides, you're lucky, in more ways than one. When I first joined the army, one of my fellow officers sustained some rather_ intimate _injuries, similar to yours. But…" He shrugged. "Let's just say he won't be conceiving_ any _children, unless there's a miraculous advancement in the medical field soon."_

 _He looked down at the tiny bundle in his arms. "You should be proud of yourself, Serenity._ I'm _certainly proud of you."_

 _She turned her gaze toward their child. "Is she doing all right?"_

 _Luain nodded and kissed little Serena's forehead softly. "Yes. She's fine." He spoke very quietly. "The doctors say she's completely healthy for such a low weight. We've just been having some father-daughter time together. I figured it's only fair for the two of us to bond with you having already known her for nine months longer than I have. I envy you for that, you know. Just because of that, you'll have always known her longer than I ever will." He chuckled and smiled again._

 _He had meant for his words to be a joke, of course, but neither he nor his wife knew at the time just how ironic and true the statement would turn out to be. "But, she probably_ is _hungry by now," he remarked, looking down at his daughter again. "I suppose it's time for her to nurse. They want us to monitor her eating habits for a while."_

 _Serenity nodded. "Alright." She agreed, and let out another sigh as she slowly began propping herself up on her pillow so that she could sit up straight. "Let's give this a try."_

 _She proceeded to unbutton her nightgown, a dress that she had put on after the start of her first contraction for the very purpose of nursing. But, she had to admit that she was mildly afraid and nervous at having to do this. Not only had she been told by multiple mothers, including_ all _of the Queens of the Solar System, that breastfeeding started out very painfully and uncomfortably, but she also felt that it would be very awkward to know her child in such a way (even though nursing a child_ was, _of course,_ _the very purpose of having breasts)._ _Nevertheless, when the midwife who had delivered the Princess had offered to find a nurse-for-hire for the Queen, Serenity had refused. She did not want another woman caring for her child. Not when she was perfectly capable of doing it herself._

 _No,_ she _would be the mother to her daughter. She would not allow anyone else to be._

 _Luain walked over to the bed and placed baby Serena to her mother's bare chest, the child letting out a tiny grunt in protest at having to be moved from the comfortable position in her father's arms that she had become accustomed to after so many hours. After a few seconds or so, with her mother's help, she finally latched onto the Queen's breast and began to suckle it lightly. It wasn't as strange as Serenity would have thought it would be, but it certainly wasn't her favorite activity to do with her newborn daughter._

 _Luain positioned himself on his side of the bed next to his wife and took her hand._

" _She's so beautiful," Serenity said as she looked down at the Princess, a renewed love for the child coursing through her body._

" _She is," the King Consort said softly. "Very."_

" _She has your hair," the Queen remarked. She caressed a golden lock on her daughter's head, just as the baby opened her eyes for a brief moment. They were her husband's blue as well. "And your eyes."_

 _Luain nodded humbly and stroked Serena's tiny head before resting his own head lightly on his wife's shoulder. "That she does," he agreed._

 _Serenity looked at her King and a sudden surge of pure love for him overtook her. She never thought that she would ever be able to love him any more than she already had, but now, with the child they had created lying in her arms, she knew that she could._

 _And she knew that he felt the same way._

 _Within an instant, their fingers had entwined and they were kissing passionately, not knowing or caring at all that they would be unable to have a sexual relationship ever again. They had all the satisfaction that they needed right there._

" _I love you." The sentence issued from both of their lips as they broke apart._

 _At this moment in time, Serenity was the happiest that she had ever been in her life. Again, she did not know that, not even one year later, the happiness she now felt would be ripped away, turning her life upside-down._


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys! Thanks to everyone who is reading, following, favoriting, etc! I really love writing this story! Please continue to read, and don't forget to review! I haven't gotten any yet and I need the feedback! And please check out the Question-the-Senshi tumblr blog! You won't regret it! It's amazing! I'm trying to follow the answer to each question that the administrators are giving about the Silver Millennium as closely as possible. Please let me know how I am doing!

Thanks a bunch! Love ya!

General Traveler Kid

Oh P.S. Sorry! I forgot to mention. Darien and his Shitenou will be appearing in the fourth chapter, or maybe even the end of the third, depending on how many reviews I get for _this_ chapter! "Grins maliciously" So, if you are waiting with baited breath for them to show up, stay tuned!

 **The Tale of A Reluctant Princess—Chapter Two**

The day following Serena's birthday and the Senshi inductee ceremony was a Monday, and, as such, the girls had lessons to attend all day. There were six different subjects in all, but not all six were taught in one day. Monday and Wednesday were as follows: Literature and grammar (one lesson) from nine until eleven o'clock in the morning, science (the type of which rotated every month or so) from twelve to two o'clock, and mathematics from two until four. Tuesday and Thursday consisted of history and geography from nine to eleven, economics from twelve to two, and politics (current affairs, interplanetary relations, government, or whatever their governess Mrs. Kendrick chose to call it on that day, as she used all the terms interchangeably) was from two to four. On Fridays, Mrs. Kendrick would usually surprise the girls with whatever subject she thought most relevant to teach in accordance with what was going on in the Solar System (most of the time, this was politics or economics) or with the subject that she found the girls to be struggling with the most.

Mrs. Kendrick had been Serena's governess since the Moon Princess was five years old, when Queen Serenity had decided that her daughter needed to be educated. Now, _that_ was a choice of her mother's that Serena questioned. If _she_ had been given her way, Serena would have not started her education until she had reached the age of eight, at least. For one thing, Mrs. Kendrick had been far too intimidating for a five-year-old. The Princess remembered her first day of lessons quite vividly, and it had included a black-dressed Mrs. Kendrick telling her that she did not tolerate mischief, jokes, games, or anything that a normal child of five did; and although Mrs. Kendrick had specifically stated that she did not believe in spanking or paddling of the buttocks, as she deemed such practices to be forms of "sadomasochism" (whatever that was, Serena hadn't the slightest idea), she was perfectly fine with slapping the palms and backs of the hands with rulers when children "misbehaved," or did whatever she deemed to _be_ misbehavior.

Today was no different than any other day, really. Literature was nothing short of boring, with Serena struggling to keep her eyes open while a drawly Mina read a passage from a novel by a Plutonian author who had been dead for no less than three centuries, and Lita asking the question of why they were being forced to read books from so long ago, as they were "no longer relevant," according to her. Raye stayed silent until the girls were going over their homework from the weekend on independent and dependent clauses, when she complained about getting the two grammatical concepts mixed up. Amy, of course, was the top performer in the class and had no complaints and barely any dialogue to add to anything, as she had become accustomed her to friends' objections and what not about their education, until science class rolled around and she accidentally splashed some chemicals in her eye and had to hold her head under the shower for about thirty minutes. She had done a lot of swearing then.

Serena's worst class, by far, was mathematics. She didn't know why, but for whatever reason, the numbers always seemed to get mixed up inside her head. That, or they would get lost somewhere in her brain completely to the point where she couldn't even count forward! The girls had been studying Algebra recently, but upon realizing that the Princesses were struggling with their multiplication tables, Mrs. Kendrick had assigned them some of the upper tables to complete for homework. Today, she was requiring the girls to recite their multiplication tables from nine to thirteen in front of the class, with each girl taking one number. They had to recite them using either memory, which meant that they could have easily _memorized_ the answers on the paper from the night before, or by actual calculation, which was something only Amy could do after a certain point without the use of a computer calculator.

Of course, as she always did, Mrs. Kendrick made Serena go first. Oh, yes, out of all of the numbers to assign, nine definitely was the easiest, as it was the smallest. However, that did not mean that Serena would be able to undertake the task. She stumbled out of her seat and to the front of the class, all the while watching Mrs. Kendrick and the ruler that she _always_ had in her hand no matter what the circumstance.

"Serena," the older woman began in a mockingly sweet tone, tapping the ruler lightly in her own palm, "could you please recite your nine times tables?"

The Moon Princess gulped. "Y-yes, Madam."

Then, looking straight ahead of her, she tried to focus, not on her four Senshi classmates, but on the window directly behind them. It was a pretty day, much like yesterday, and she could hear birds chirping in the silence. But, predictably, the sound of nature did nothing much to calm her fears.

" _Recite_ them, Serena." Mrs. Kendrick's request had morphed into a demand and the steady slapping of her ruler against her palm was growing so much louder that the sound of the birds outside soon became muffled.

Serena took a deep breath and swallowed again. Her palms were becoming sweaty and her bony knees were shaking, but she held her gaze forward.

"N—" she took another breath as her stomach clenched, "— _nine_ times _one…_ is _nine_." She had to speak slowly and clearly, or else Mrs. Kendrick was sure to scold her. " _Nine_ times _two_ …is _eighteen_." She tried to remember the trick to multiplying by nine that Amy had _attempted_ to teach her and the rest of the girls. It was that, with every answer, the first digit would _increase_ one digit from the first digit of the last answer, and the second digit would _decrease._ It seemed easy enough to remember. That is, as long as Serena could keep her numbers in line.

And _that_ was her problem: nine times out of ten, she could not do that.

" _Nine_ times…"

Her voice cracked under the pressure and her mind went blank. Holy crap! What the hell came after two? How could she not remember such a thing? What kind of stupid, messed up mind did she possess? Her vision suddenly became blurry with tears of embarrassment and shame. The shaking in her knees worsened as the convulsive sensation shot up into the rest of her body and took hold of her shoulders. It then came back down into her stomach, causing her to become nauseous. She knew that she would vomit in a matter of seconds, but there was no way that she would be able to control it. Vaguely, she thought she could hear Amy saying, "Serena, look the other way!" as if to warn her that, if she did not look away, then she would puke on her friends!

But, lucky for her Senshi, Serena vomited on her own white silk dress instead.

And she was forced to sit in her soiled garment for the remainder of the lesson until the other girls had recited _their_ assigned times tables, as Mrs. Kendrick was not one to let any student's actions disrupt the flow of her class. Serena contemplated telling her mother this, but she doubted that the Queen would believe her.

After the lesson had formally ended with Mrs. Kendrick's declaration that class was dismissed, the governess called Serena to her desk and handed her some napkins and a basin of soapy water to clean herself up. She normally reserved the napkins and basin for the girls to wash their hands before and after lunch, but this was a special case.

"I've been watching you, Serena," the stern woman commented as the Princess wiped off her dress and one of her long ponytails that had unfortunately gotten in the way of her upchuck, "and, while I think much of your issue with school has to do with disinterest in what I am teaching you, I believe that, with mathematics in particular, you have a far more pressing issue."

Serena looked up from her dress. "What kind of issue, Madam?" she asked, dreading the answer. She didn't want to have any more issues. She was already shorter and skinnier than a girl of her age should have been. That was enough. What more problems did she need? She was a _Princess,_ for crying out loud! Her every move was scrutinized! People were waiting for her to mess up even more than she already had so that they could take her throne away once her mother was dead! That was how much everyone hated her!

But, Mrs. Kendrick chose not to respond directly to her question. "I'm going to speak with Her Majesty this afternoon and discuss my findings with her. She'll decide what actions she wants to take with you."

 _Your findings?_ Serena thought, incredulously. _Am I a science experiment to you or something?_

Well, whatever the Moon Princess was to Mrs. Kendrick, Serena knew that the woman did not like her. There was no way she _could_ like her with the way she treated her.

Around nine-thirty that evening, Queen Serenity finally came home from a long day of work, looking very exhausted. A maidservant informed the Queen that Mrs. Kendrick wanted to speak with her about Serena's progress in school, so the three of them met in the Palace lounge.

For her part, Serena, who was now freshly bathed and dressed in a lavender shift of cotton, remained silent during the exchange between the two women and chose to pick at loose threads on the arm of the couch upon which she was sitting. She knew she shouldn't be doing that, but, oh well. Queen Serenity was obviously too immersed in her conversation with Mrs. Kendrick to rebuke or to even notice what her daughter was doing.

"I believe that the Princess is suffering, first and foremost, from a severe anxiety disorder brought on by public speaking," Mrs. Kendrick was explaining.

"Public speaking?" the Queen repeated, sounding a bit shocked. Naturally, that _would_ catch her attention, and it just made Serena feel even more terrible about herself. She imagined her mother thinking, _She is to be a Queen! How can she be afraid to speak in front of others? There goes my bloodline!_

"There are ways to cope with such a fear," Mrs. Kendrick assured the Queen. "It's not uncommon, especially in the youth. There is also medicine that a psychiatrist can prescribe her to soothe her anxiety, if you so choose to go down that path. It all depends on the child and whether or not the natural coping mechanisms work. I've seen some progress just fine without the use of medication. Others can't go a day without taking it. It just depends. Now, I also have the feeling that she may be suffering from dyscalculia. Are you familiar with that term, My Lady?"

"Yes." The Queen nodded affirmatively. "It has to do with processing numbers in the brain."

"Correct." The governess gave a nod. "It's a learning disability involving the difficulty to manipulate numbers. Forgetting simple math is among the signs. Of course, Serena has always struggled with math, as many children do, but I feel her struggle is more severe than most, and I can see that it has gotten much worse recently. Furthermore, I believe that her fears and anxiety are making her disorder even more prevalent. But, these types of disabilities are sometimes genetically inherited. Forgive me, Madam, but has anyone in your family suffered from this disorder? Anyone you know of?"

"No," the Queen said. "No one on my side that I am aware of. But, it is possible."

"And what of her father's side?"

"No one that he ever mentioned," the Queen responded quietly. "But, again, anything is possible."

Serena looked up at her mother's response just in time to see the Queen's hands trembling in her lap. Every time Serenity's consort was mentioned in her presence, the Queen would become upset, not out of anger, but of out sadness. It was obvious to Serena that her parents had had a very strong and loving relationship, which she admired above all else, practically. However, the Princess did not understand why the Queen went to such great lengths to conceal such a good marriage from her daughter. Perhaps, she was reluctant to talk about her husband out of her own pain from losing him or out of the fear that she would cause her daughter more pain than the girl deserved. Nevertheless, in the thirteen years and some odd months, or however long it had been (Serena wasn't exactly sure _how_ long, given her newly discovered "dyscalculia" and the mere bits of information that her mother had given her), since King Luain's death, Serena had heard surprisingly little about her father. In fact, if a random person were to come up to her on the streets of the Moon and ask her about him, she knew that she would not have much to say, other than his name and that he had been an officer and later a Lieutenant General in the Lunarian Army, followed by a member of the Royal Guard, a position that had introduced him to the Queen. Actually, once, when Serena and her friends were exploring the armory, Raye had come across his sword and had picked it up, only to drop it on the ground with a loud _clunk._ Amy had been quick to tell the Martian Princess that if one dropped a dead soldier's sword and it hit the ground, one's family and descendants would be cursed for no less than ten thousand years. But Raye, not one to know a joke even if it bit her in the buttocks, ran around the room screaming and begging King Luain's soul for forgiveness.

Now, that had been worth a few laughs from the rest of the girls, much to Raye's humiliation upon finally realizing that Amy had been joking. But, still, the point remained that Serena did not know much about her father. She did not know the circumstances surrounding his death, she had yet to see any photographs or portraits of him, and the only time of the year where she was sure to hear something about him from Queen Serenity herself was on his birthday when mother and daughter went to visit his grave to place flowers there.

Serena felt even worse, if that were even possible by now, that she had to be a failure to someone whom she didn't know at all.

She sighed and started to play absentmindedly with one of her strawberry-smelling ponytails. Of course, she had never _meant_ to be a failure. It was not something that she did consciously or intentionally. It just _happened…._

Alright. So, maybe she _could_ have tried to a bit harder. Maybe she _could_ have been on time more often to events and paid attention more during lessons and meetings that her mother required her to attend. But, that would not change how she felt about being a Queen.

Really, if she had been given the choice, she would have been a Senshi, where her main duty would have been to protect someone of higher authority. She would not want to be a Senshi _Queen,_ of course, which meant that one was forced to protect someone and having to rule over a planet of her own at the same time, as her friends were destined to do, but, a plain, ordinary Senshi with one duty and goal in mind. Yet, that would never happen, as those kinds of guardians, meaning those with just one responsibility to worry about, did not exist. At least, not for women.

And that got Serena thinking even further: for a mainly matriarchal society that their Solar System supposedly was, women did not have very many rights. The Queens, active rulers of their respective planets as they may have been, did not possess absolute power to govern their planets unrestrictedly and, as such, were subject to the rules of checks and balances, votes, parliamentary bickering among officials, and whatever else the other branches of government (composed of nothing but men, as far as Serena knew) consisted of. Yes, the Queens had the final say in regards to _most_ issues brought before them at court, but not before the issues were picked through thoroughly by the other officials. Of course, this had all been decided on with the greater good in mind, as monarchs who ruled with no input from others proved to be dangerous time and time again. But, unlike men, women did not really have the authority to choose their own career paths at all, or so it would seem. Their jobs were basically hereditary, handed down to them by their mothers.

Or, maybe that was just the way it was within the Royal lines. Serena hadn't really been paying much attention in politics class to know the lives of _civilian_ women or anyone outside of the nobility….

Again, maybe she _should_ have tried harder to learn.

Once Mrs. Kendrick had departed for her home, it was passed eleven o'clock, and Serena found herself growing very sleepy. Once or twice, during the conversation between her mother and governess, she had nodded off. She only hoped that the Queen was unaware of this.

"I believe it's time for bed, Serena," Queen Serenity stated as she reentered the lounge after escorting Mrs. Kendrick outside of the Palace. The Princess watched her mother's gaze as the woman took in her daughter's droopy eyes. "You look like you're about to pass out at any moment. I'll talk to you about what Mrs. Kendrick and I discussed at breakfast tomorrow."

Serena nodded in agreement. The longer she could put off hearing anything that Mrs. Kendrick had to say about her, the better. "Yes, My Lady," she said, before letting out a huge yawn.

"I told you not to address me so in our own home," the Queen rebuked lightly. "Here, I am your mother, not your Queen."

"I know," she said in a small voice. "I'm sorry." Another large yawn escaped her mouth before she could stop it.

"Come on, my dear." The Queen smiled and put an arm around her daughter, leading her up the stairs and to her bedroom.

The Princess stumbled into bed without even changing into a nightgown or turning down her comforter. But, once her eyes had closed, she felt her mother kiss her forehead.

"I love you, Serena," she heard the Queen whisper.

This caught the young girl's attention and her eyes shot open once more as she took hold of Serenity's arm before the woman could walk out of the room.

"Do you _really,_ Mother?" she asked in a hoarse voice. "Do you _really_ love me?"

The Queen looked perplexed. "Of course I do, darling! There is no one else in this universe whom I love more than you and there never will be!" Serena could see that her mother's eyes were pained. She obviously took great offense to her daughter's question.

Serenity shook her head. "I don't understand why you're asking me such a thing. Have I done something to make you think differently?"

Serena turned her eyes downward, but propped her head up on her elbow, suddenly feeling very awake now. "Yes…" she responded ever so slowly. A part of her couldn't believe that she was actually admitting this to her mother. "Sometimes…"

She turned her eyes upward again to look at the Queen, whose puzzled look had been replaced by one of terror.

"In what way?" Her Majesty asked after a few moments.

"Well," the Princess swallowed. She did not want to make her mother any more upset, but how else was she supposed to voice her feelings? "You let Mrs. Kendrick be cross and yell at me and you let her carry around that ruler! I don't think she's ever actually _used_ it on anyone, but I'm always afraid that she's going to _start_ using it with me! She's far too strict! I hate being in a room with her! She scares me to death! And what about the way _you_ treat me? You're always so hard on me, even when I try my best! And if I say I don't want to do something, you make me do it anyway! I don't understand! I don't feel happy, Mother! I'm not trying to act spoiled or bratty or anything like that, but I don't feel good about myself! I feel like you aren't proud of me and that you don't even want me to be your daughter! I _know_ you'd rather have given birth to someone like Amy because she's so smart and doesn't have any disorders that make it hard for her to learn simple things!"

Before she knew it, Serena was sobbing into her pillow with her mother staring at her in shock.

After a short while, the Princess felt weight dip onto the bed and the Queen's arms wrap around her. The woman stroked her daughter's hair and brought her head to her chest, tucking her head underneath her chin.

"I had no idea you felt that way," Serenity said softly. "I had no idea at all…I'm _so_ sorry..."

There was silence in the darkness as mother and daughter lie on the large bed together. Finally, the Queen continued to speak.

"But…you must understand…."

This got Serena angry and made her want to sob even harder had she been able to do so. What could there possibly be for _her_ to understand? It was her _mother_ who needed to understand _her_!

"Everything I have done for you _is_ out of the unconditional love that I have for you. There is no hatred for you in me. Don't _ever_ think that…" Serenity sighed. "First of all, I hired Mrs. Kendrick to teach you because I knew that she took her job as a governess seriously. I did my research in looking for an experienced educator for you and I knew that she was not going to be soft and weak and let you trample on her just because you were the Moon Princess! She brings with her self-confidence and authority, and she works very hard to instill a never-faltering work ethic in her students that helps them to learn and succeed! Yes, she may be intimidating, and I will request that she put that ruler away, but her actions do not mean that she is trying to emotionally or mentally abuse you in any way. Serena, if she truly did not care about you at all, then she would not have bothered to come to me about the problems that you have been having in her class. She would have chosen to ignore them and let you fail in front of everyone. Now, to do _that_ is a sign of hatred. My mark word, it _is._ "

Serena stopped sobbing and felt her mother beginning to undo the buns atop her daughter's head that the girl had been too tired to take out before. The Queen continued to speak softly as she let down the Princess's long golden locks.

"And as for your assumptions of _me,_ Serena, you are _wrong."_ Serenity's voiced now sounded just as pained as her eyes had looked moments before. "I have _never_ , since the day you were born, _ever_ wished that I had been given someone else as a daughter. You are wonderful in your own way. You always have been. You are the most loving, compassionate, and loyal friend that anyone could ever ask for in a person. You help others whenever they so need it and you always put your friends' needs before your own. Like I said, I am only hard on you because I love you and I want you to succeed. I don't like it when you blow off your duties and responsibilities, no mother does. I _do_ become frustrated and angry with you when you do such things, but it's only because I want you to work hard and be appreciative of what you have. I don't like it when you rebel, either, but...after a certain point, I know that I cannot stop you from doing so…."

She finished taking down Serena's hair, letting the blonde waterfall cascade down the Princess's back. Another sigh escaped her lips.

"If, after I'm gone, you choose not to be Queen, I want you to know that that will be all right."

Serena opened her eyes and she heard her mother choke back tears as she spoke. Eventually, one landed on the Princess's head.

"But, you also have to realize that, once another Queen, another bloodline, is elected to take your place, you cannot take your position back."

"I know," Serena responded quietly.

"I only urge you not to do this because I believe that you _will_ be a great Queen to our people. They already love you so much. It _is_ a huge responsibility, but I have faith that you can do it."

Serena didn't know what to say. She had certainly never heard her mother pour her emotions out like this before. She didn't know if it would even be appropriate for her to say anything at all, so she remained silent.

"I won't deny that I _did_ have a plan, a 'vision,' I guess you could call it, for your future. I've always wanted you to be a Queen and follow in my footsteps. But…of course, I've had other plans in the past, and, obviously, some of them _,_ the ones that I had my heart set on the most, no less, weren't meant to be, either."

She let out yet another deep sigh and then began to talk as if she were speaking more to herself than to her daughter, or so Serena thought.

"People say that I'm the incarnation of Selene, but I don't know if I believe that. At least, not entirely, as I'm still bound by all of the mortal laws of humanity, and that includes having the plans for my life and for my loved ones laughed at and torn apart by a fate that is already set in stone."

Again, a long silence reigned over the Moon Queen and Princess. Serena began to feel her eyelids grow heavy again and soon, she had fallen asleep in her mother's arms.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everybody! Thanks to everyone who has read thus far! I hope you continue to do so and that you are enjoying this story and please remember to review after reading Chapter Three. I've only received one so far and I'm trying really hard to develop these characters well. I need to know what you think. Anyway, Prince Endymion and his Generals will be featured in Chapter Four. Stay tuned and please check out Sakura-Rose12's Question-the-Senshi blog if you haven't yet. Thanks!**

 **Love ya!**

 **General Traveler Kid**

 **The Tale of A Reluctant Princess—Chapter Three**

When she woke up, albeit very late, the next morning, Serena realized with great guilt that, while Queen Serenity had justified her ways and had finally openly declared that she loved Serena as her daughter, the Princess had neither said nor done anything to show that she loved her mother in return.

 _How ungrateful_ am _I?_ she asked herself, her stomach tied in yet another knot. _I'm a horrible daughter._

She hopped out of bed with adrenaline, not at the thought of being tardy for anything having to do with Mrs. Kendrick (which was normally the case) but rather at the thought of missing her mother at breakfast before lessons began. She had to tell the Queen that she loved her, too.

In the bathroom, she splashed some water on her face and then dressed herself in a pink pinafore, as her outfit dubbed her "Princess garbs" by everyone else was still being cleaned from yesterday. Serena just hoped that Raye wouldn't say anything about this dress, as it was very similar to one that she wore, and she hated when other girls and women, even those with whom she was unacquainted, would wear outfits that she owned.

Serena rolled her eyes. _Crazy Raye._

She proceeded to tie her hair into her mother's signature buns and ponytails before heading as quickly as possible down into the dining room. The Senshi were there, eating plates of sausage, eggs, and an assortment of bread that was placed in a basket on the table in front of them. Lita and Raye appeared to be chatting about something. Amy was off in her own world, munching a bagel with strawberry cream cheese and reading her economics textbook, and Mina was sitting silently, picking the dead ends out of her hair.

"Oh, hey, Serena!" Lita stopped her conversation with Raye mid-sentence and smiled at the Moon Princess. "Come sit down."

Serena smiled and nodded, although absentmindedly, as she was preoccupied with looking around for her mother.

Lita pulled out the chair next to her. "Here you go."

"Thanks," Serena responded as she took her seat. "Have any of you seen my mother?"

"Yeah," said Raye in a bored voice. "She grabbed some coffee and left a little while ago, but she wanted us to tell you 'Good morning' and that she loves you. "

Serena looked down at the table in disappointment. She had wanted to see the Queen before she had left for the day, and Serenity had told her daughter specifically that she would talk with her the next morning. Something important must have come up or the Queen had forgotten about having to attend to it last night upon making her promise. It was another reason why Serena was not looking forward to taking her mother's place. She would have so much business going on that she would have next to no time for herself or her family.

It was possible that the other Princesses noticed Serena's reaction to Raye's words, but, if so, they chose not to say anything about it.

"So…" Raye made a sucking sound with her teeth in between her pause and the rest of her sentence. "How did everything with Mrs. Kendrick go?"

Serena turned her eyes up from the table and she let out an annoyed sigh. " _Great,"_ she said sarcastically. "She thinks that I have dyscalculia. You know, problems with math and your brain and whatever. I probably have to go to a real psychiatrist to find out if I really _do_ have it, but honestly, if _she_ says I have it, I probably do. She may be mean, but she's not a liar, and she doesn't approve of exaggerations...or deducing anything without solid evidence." She looked down again and sighed. "So…"

"Yes," Amy said, looking up from her book and wiping her mouth with her cloth napkin. "I agree, actually. I mean, I'm not an expert in any way, of course," this statement earned a teasing scoff from the rest of the girls, much to Amy's obliviousness, "but I know what dyscalculia is, and, to me, it seems like you may have it."

"Isn't dyscalculia the same thing as dyslexia?" asked Mina, still picking at her hair.

"No," said Amy. "Dyslexia has to do with letters and reading. A lot of times, people will have both of them together, but not always, as is Serena's case, I think, because she reads just fine. So, no, they're not interchangeable."

"Uh huh," replied Mina in what appeared to be semi-understanding as she continued her "grooming." As she picked a split end out, she would drop it casually on the floor, something that seemed to be angering Raye.

"For crying out loud!" the Martian Princess finally hissed. "Why can't you go to a damn salon and get your hair trimmed like a normal person? And I'm not just talking about Princesses or noble people. I'm talking about every person in this _universe_! Everyone gets their hair cut! Why can't you?"

"I didn't say I _wasn't_ going to get my hair trimmed eventually!" Mina fought back, very offended. "I'm just doing this because I'm bored!"

"Well, your ways of dealing with boredom are _disgusting_!" Raye retorted. She grabbed her glass of half-empty orange juice and began slurping the remaining contents loudly through her straw.

Serena rolled her eyes at Raye for the second time that morning and decided to take a blueberry muffin from the basket of bread in front of her.

"How was your first day of Senshi training?" she asked as she took the paper off the bottom and broke a piece off of the sweet bread to eat it.

"Awful," Lita responded with a gag. "The first thing my mother did was call me 'fat.'"

Mina blew some air through her closed lips, making them quiver loudly. "She did _not_. She said you were heavier than the rest of us because you're taller and because you ice skate a lot, giving you more muscle mass. If I were you, I would take that as a compliment. She would never be _that_ mean to you. She's your _mother._ "

"Yeah, really, Lita." Raye agreed. "If I remember correctly, you were climbing the fastest on the rock wall and spent the first half of all that physical endurance crap running laps around the rest of us."

"Especially Raye," Mina vengefully pointed out for Serena's benefit, making the raven-haired girl's eyes grow wide with shock. Evidently, something had happened yesterday that she had neither wanted nor expected anyone to bring up today. "She got halfway through the first lap and puked up her lunch. Then, when we had dinner, she ate so much that she almost threw up again." The Venusian Princess let out a laugh. "It was pretty hilarious." Then, she started an overly dramatic imitation of the Martian girl, complete with loud moans of pain and fake dry heaves. "'My stomach! My stomach! Oh, Mother, I'm so ill! I have to see a doctor! I can't…I can't…Blah! Blah! Blah!' Ha ha ha ha. Well, Queen Edana just stood there with this super annoyed look on her face, like, 'You are such a wimp. Don't you come crawling to me just because you can't run for half a minute.'"

Serena began to giggle, nearly choking on her muffin, while Amy, who had gone back to reading her textbook and who was always quick to remind the rest of the girls that she did not condone such taunting, let out a discrete, almost inaudible, snort. Raye stared so angrily at Mina that, if looks could kill, there would be no heir to the throne of Venus in a matter of seconds.

"What?" asked Mina, laughing innocently. "I'm just saying what happened. It's nothing to be ashamed of." She shrugged and then paused for a moment. "I mean, not _really_. You just need to get yourself into shape and you'll be just fine."

Instead of responding verbally to this statement, Raye reached into the bread basket and threw a croissant at the teasing girl's head.

Lessons started about twenty minutes later, and Serena was all too happy that mathematics was not on today's list of subjects. She did not need a repeat of yesterday. In fact, to be perfectly honest, she usually quite enjoyed Tuesdays and Thursdays, especially history and geography. Mrs. Kendrick taught the girls, not only about the Moon's history, but about the history of all the planets, and Serena found each one to be very interesting. Never once did she have the urge to fall asleep during Mrs. Kendrick's lectures, as the information was something that she liked to learn about. The Outer Planets (Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto) were the most intriguing, as Serena, to her knowledge, had never actually met anyone from there. But, she was aware that there was a Senshi from those planets, as well, and that Queen Serenity did business with the rulers, who were also Queens and Kings.

Besides, the activities that Mrs. Kendrick had the girls do during history were actually quite fun. Well, "fun" by Mrs. Kendrick's standards. At any rate, history was by far the only class in which the word "fun" would _ever_ be thought to describe anything having to do with the uptight governess, as she really didn't approve of what Serena and the others would consider normal teenage fun. But once, she had had the girls write a play centered on a specific scene from the history of the planet that they were studying and they got to wear costumes and act. Apparently, she was into the arts. Nevertheless, it was by far the closest thing to a dress-up game the girls got in the stern woman's class.

Today, it seemed that Mrs. Kendrick had something new in store for the girls, some new territory, literally. For when they walked into class, there was a huge picture of the planet Earth hanging on the chalkboard. They had never studied Earth before, not once, and Serena had no idea why.

Perhaps today would be the day she found out.

She sat down at her desk curiously, not taking her eyes off the image of the beautiful planet until Mrs. Kendrick cleared her throat, which forced everyone to turn around in their seats to look at her as she made her way to the chalkboard.

"Good morning girls," she said, her voice oddly smooth, as it did not carry the tone of being rehearsed like it usually did. Serena was also quick to notice with a small smile that the woman's menacing ruler was absent from her hands. _Thank the Gods!_ "I hope all of you enjoyed your first day of your training to become Princess Serena's guardians, and I trust that, as you progress, all of you will be fine warriors."

Behind Serena, Mina snickered, presumably thinking about just how far _Raye_ had to progress, causing Mrs. Kendrick to raise her eyebrows. However, she acted strangely once more by making no comments towards Mina's actions.

"Today, as you probably have all guessed from the image on the board," she gestured to said image with her index finger, continuing to speak as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, "we will be studying the planet of Earth for the first time. Yes, Amy?"

Serena turned her head to look at her bookish friend, who had evidently just raised her hand.

"Forgive me, Madam, but _why_ are we to study the Earth? I thought that contact between Earth and the rest of the Solar System was forbidden. Is it not?"

"Yes," Mrs. Kendrick affirmed. "That is true. However, just because we are forbidden to—or might I say, _discouraged_ , as that might be the more accurate way to say it—just because we are discouraged to have contact with a certain place does not mean that we should not study it. In any case, no matter what our relationship to any planet is, we must not be ignorant of its customs or history. It would be so foolish to have a conflict with somewhere, without knowing the reason _for_ the conflict, now, wouldn't it?"

"Yes," said Lita, always the one to voice her opinion on at least one aspect of every lesson. "That would be very stupid."

"Aren't there portals to Earth, though?" asked Mina, clearly interested. "I mean, can't people go there whenever they please?"

"Well, technically, yes," said Mrs. Kendrick. "There are portals that lead to the other planets in the Solar System, of course, and Earth is no exception, as it isn't officially prohibited due to the event of an emergency. As I said, to go there is much more discouraged than forbidden. But, because of the, should I say, cultural consequences of venturing to it, the wise choose not to go there unless the circumstances are absolutely necessary."

Serena fought back the urge to roll her eyes again. "Cultural" consequences meant that if you did something, you would be shunned and probably spat upon. Now, why wasn't doing something like _that_ outlawed, or, at the very least, frowned upon?

"So, what would _be_ a necessary circumstance for people to go there?" asked Raye. "Like, war or something?"

"Yes." Mrs. Kendrick nodded. "If, the Gods forbid, the rest of the Solar System fell or was severely debilitated by outside forces, then refugees could flee to Earth. Unless in the event that Earth was attacked first. But, of course, refugees coming to Earth is a whole different issue altogether, which I will eventually be covering in politics. Also, the issue of bio-terrorism is another special circumstance. If there happened to be an outbreak of an unknown illness, doctors could go to Earth to investigate whether or not the microbe causing it came from there."

"That's scary as hell." Mina remarked.

"Don't swear," Amy, ever prudent, rebuked lightly.

Now, it was Raye's turn to snort at _her_ , although hers was not subtle in the slightest.

"Shut up Amy," The Martian said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "You were swearing ten times worse than that yesterday."

"Yes. I agree, " was Mrs. Kendrick's reply. Once again, rather than address the Princesses' side chatter directly, as Serena had assumed she would, the governess spoke loudly to draw the girls' attention back to herself. _Wow._ Any other day, the woman would be screaming at them to "shut up" themselves and brandishing that accursed ruler threateningly. Queen Serenity _must_ have had a firm word with her after all. This made the Queen's daughter smile even wider. She could not forget to thank her mother.

"It is very frightening," Mrs. Kendrick went on to say.

But, Serena's demeanor suddenly changed when she felt a chill run down her spine as Mrs. Kendrick continued to speak, for she was staring directly at the Lunar Princess. Rather intently, it seemed.

"Many years back, there was an investigation into such an attack, which was mostly affecting the nobility of Neptune at the time, and it was discovered that people were paying doctors and scientists to deliberately go outside of the Solar System to retrieve viruses and bacteria for the purpose of assassinating government officials. As you would imagine, it was quite an easy task once the said microorganisms were obtained because those from outside of our planets are far more serious, as we generally have no immune system or medicines to work against them. Once someone is infected, it's basically a death sentence, and sometimes, it's difficult to prove whether someone was purposely infected or if he or she became ill by natural or accidental means. This is especially if he or she is the only person being affected by a particular organism, which has happened on a few occasions."

She looked at the Moon Princess for a few more seconds before finally breaking eye contact with her to turn her head to the chalkboard. "But, again, I'm digressing." She took a deep breath. "That is largely a lesson for the likes of biological science, not history. Now, who wants to learn about Earth?"

Serena immediately raised her hand, forgetting all about why Mrs. Kendrick could have been giving her such a strange, uncomfortable stare. The Moon Princess was a curious person by nature, of course, but mostly when it involved something that she knew she shouldn't meddle in. So, as to be expected, Earth was one of those things….

After class had ended, Serena's mind stayed on the Earth for the remainder of the school day. According to Mrs. Kendrick, the people of Earth and the rest of the Solar System had had a bitterness toward one another for many centuries for several reasons, which, in all honesty, Serena considered to be quite petty. For one thing, Earth's society was largely patriarchal at its core, meaning that men dominated and set most of the rules, whereas the rest of the Silver Millennium (the official name for both the current era and the Solar System) was, of course, largely matriarchal. As a result, the King, instead of the Queen, ruled over Earth as its primary monarch. This had spawned a large disagreement over power and gender, with the opposing leaders believing that their ways of government and culture were the right way. In addition, the lifespan of the average humans of Earth was about seventy-six to eighty years and they aged very rapidly, while that of the rest of the humans in the Solar System was a couple centuries minimum, provided that they remained in perfect health and that no tragedy befell them to shorten their lives, and they stopped aging physically around the age of eighteen. This variation in age length of life was due in large part to the Imperium Silver Crystal, a device held in the hands of the Lunarian Royal Family. The Silver Crystal had great power, including the power to heal and save the souls of those who had died recently. Recently, of course, meant that the person had to have died within a few minutes of the Crystal's use. In other words, leaving someone dead for even an hour and then trying to bring them back to life wouldn't work. Besides, the use of the Crystal had dire consequences, not just for the person using it, but for everyone in the Solar System. So, basically, the person who was trying to be saved was better off dead anyway.

But, that wasn't surprising. There was always a catch with the most powerful of things, Serena knew.

However, none of that made any sense to her as to why contact with Earth was forbidden, or, if not legally forbidden, then taboo, or "discouraged," as Mrs. Kendrick had put it. Serena felt that it was just a stupid animosity issue that could have been resolved if the leaders of the planets only came to accept each others' differences. Then again, she had to remind herself that politics was like that. Humans were stubborn and they would not change their ways of thinking for anyone else. Ever.

No. Serena was most definitely _not_ looking forward to being Queen.

After school had ended and the rest of the girls went off for their second day of Senshi training, she decided to go the library to get the rest of her homework for tomorrow done. She had finished her chemistry assignment and her grammar activity yesterday, trying to avoid her math for as long as possible. But, the fact was that she couldn't ignore it forever.

Sighing, she pulled open the library's door to be greeted by at least seven thousand books, more than Amy had even read. Helen and Jane, two of the Palace maids, were also inside, dusting and polishing off the furniture.

"Good afternoon, Miss Helen, Miss Jane," the Princess said brightly when the two women turned around to see who had entered the room.

Queen Serenity had always instructed Serena to be polite and respectful to everyone, including the servants. She had to address them as "Miss," "Missus," "Madam," "Sir," "Mister," or any other title showing that they were her elders, no matter what their occupation.

"Hello Princess," Helen replied cheerfully and bowed.

"Good afternoon, Your Highness." Jane smiled. "Is there anything we can do for you?"

"Well, no." Serena said in a timid voice. "I was just wondering if I could do my schoolwork in here today. I always fall asleep in my bedroom and the garden is too distracting, so if I could come in here…"

"Oh, of course, Miss," Helen nodded. "We were just finishing up anyway."

Serena gave both of them a smile and walked further into the room, when the sweet smell of amber, juniper, and sandalwood filled her nostrils.

"I do hope the smell isn't too much," said Jane, noticing Serena take in the air. "I personally find this cleaner to be a tad on the strong side, a bit too masculine, if I must say so. But, it's Her Majesty's preference."

"No. It's no bother. I love it," Serena said, smiling sincerely. She had smelled this scent for as long as she could remember. It was the same scent that filled Queen Serenity's bedroom, but Serena had never thought of it as a man's perfume. But, she supposed that it was, since women normally preferred floral and fruity aromas.

Or did men wear cologne? Or was it called aftershave? Was there a difference between the two?

She couldn't help but chuckle at herself. She was being silly. It didn't matter what men wore. The point was that she had always enjoyed this particular scent.

"We'll leave you alone, Miss," said Helen. "Good luck with your studies."

Serena thanked them as they left and made her way to a cherry wood table in the far corner of the library. It was next to the window, so it had the most light. She sat down in the chair with a loud, ungraceful _thump_ and began contemplating how she was going to start her math homework.

Letting out another long sigh, she opened her satchel and placed the heavy textbook on the table with a second overly loud _thump._ She only realized then that she probably shouldn't be so rough in regards to the furniture. The Queen would be quite upset if she discovered that her daughter had broken something, especially now that Serena was two years into her teens. When she was a little girl, she had loved to touch expensive things and climb on tables and shelves when her mother told her not to do so, and back then, the Queen had been forgiving on account of Serena being so young. But now she knew better, and as such, she would get no pass if she ruined something.

She opened the book to the chapter on multiplication tables. It was toward the beginning of the book, as one had to know how to multiply basic numbers before going any further into the Algebra spectrum. Again, she felt this to be quite embarrassing. She knew that the other girls didn't need this practice and had advanced far beyond it. Why couldn't she be one of them?

She looked down at the page, her head resting in her hand, and tried to read. But, after a few minutes, she realized that she had been reading the words without paying attention as to what they were actually saying.

" _Why do they even have so many words in a math textbook anyway? It's about numbers, isn't it?"_ she thought to herself, annoyed, and let out a yawn.

But, deep down, she knew her annoyance wasn't due to the amount of directions or information that she was being given. She understood the words on the page. She knew the words that she was reading. No, it was the strange concepts that the words were trying to convey to her that were hard to follow.

She decided to reread the information again to see if that would help her understand better, but soon, before she could stop it, her head had slipped out of her hand and onto the book, and she was asleep.

 _She had no idea where she was or how she had come to be there. Thick, green deciduous trees surrounded her, but beautiful rays of sunlight were creeping in from above. She could hear the sound of birds chirping close by._

" _Hello?" she called out as she began to walk forward uncertainly. "Is anyone there? Hello? Hello?"_

" _I'm here." A male voice responded from somewhere behind her._

 _She turned to see a young-looking man with short black hair and deep blue eyes. She froze upon taking in his appearance. He was, without a doubt, the most handsome man she had ever seen in her life._

" _Where—where am I?" she stuttered after a few seconds, realizing that her mouth was agape._

" _You're on Earth," the young man said. "My Kingdom." He smiled kindly and stepped closer. "What is your name?"_

"Serena!"

She gasped, startled, at the sound of her name, and her head shot up from its position on her book. She was confused as to where she was at first, until she noticed the beautiful face of her mother looking down at her.

Queen Serenity giggled, looking a bit startled herself at Serena's reaction. "I'm sorry, dear. I didn't mean to frighten you awake. Are you feeling all right?"

Serena blinked and her suddenly mind came back to her. That's right. She was in the library, trying to complete her mathematics homework.

She must have fallen asleep.

"I'm fine, Mother," she said, suddenly feeling a cold wetness on her cheek. "Ew!" She put her hand to her face and realized that she had drooled on herself. "I'm sorry." She wiped her face off hastily with the collar of her dress and rubbed her eyes. "I was doing my homework and I just got really tired. I'm sorry. How did you find me?"

"Jane and Helen told me you were in here when I arrived home. I didn't want you to sleep here all night. Your neck would be quite sore in the morning." Serenity smiled and stroked her daughter's hair. "Are you hungry?"

Serena nodded. "Yes, Madam." She looked at her surroundings and out the window. The sun was considerably lower on the horizon than it had been when she had first entered the room. "What time is it?"

"A little before seven-thirty," her mother replied.

 _Seven-thirty?_ That was surprising. She guessed she had fallen asleep around four-thirty. As short as her dream had been, she would have thought that she hadn't been sleeping for five minutes. As it seemed, she had been out for quite a while.

"Let's go have dinner." The Queen suggested, rubbing her daughter's shoulder. "We'll talk about yesterday and I can help you with your math afterwards."

Serena smiled, still a bit sleepy, and nodded. "Thank you, Mother."

"Of course, my dearest love." She kissed the Princess's forehead. "Now, let's go."

Taking Serenity's hand, Serena stood up and walked out of the library, happy that she would be able to spend some time with her mother this evening. She leaned her head lovingly against the Queen's arm as they made their way to the dining room.

"I love you, Mother," she said.

But, for some odd reason that the Princess did not fully comprehend, the dream that she had just had was still in her head, and it left her more curious about Earth—in fact, more curious about _anything—_ than she had ever been before.

It left her wanting to explore the planet first hand...


	4. Chapter 4

Hey guys! So…I know you are all probably going to kill me for this, but…Darien is not in this chapter. I know, I know. You hate me. I'm really sorry. Please forgive me. But, I felt like the end of this chapter was where it needed to be. Short, but, nevertheless, appropriate. He is DEFINITELY going to be in Chapter Five, though, if the very end of this chapter doesn't give that away. Mark my word! Again, feedback is always appreciated, so please review! Thanks for reading thus far, and remember to check out Sakura-Rose12's Question-the-Senshi blog on tumblr. All credit goes to her and the administrators who help her with the blog. They are just letting me put the pieces together into a novel format.

General Traveler Kid

P.S. Sorry about any structural errors you may see while reading this chapter. The site wouldn't let me upload it as a document so I had to cut and paste and it took me about thirty minutes to obsessively fix the endings of each paragraph and then I had to cut and paste it again into a document that I already had uploaded from a while ago. Hopefully, I got rid of all of the computer jibberish, though. Let me know if I missed any and I'll go back and erase it.

Thanks!

The Tale of A Reluctant Princess-Chapter Four

The month of July passed by rather uneventfully for Serena and her new guardians. School continued on as usual, Mrs. Kendrick sans ruler in hand, and the Senshi spent two hours a day after lessons training. Most of the Moon Princess's time after school was spent straining her eyes over her textbooks (math being the most prevalent of these, of course), trying to study and complete her homework. She did eventually see a psychiatrist, who confirmed what everyone already knew.: she was, in fact, dyscalculic and had major anxiety. Serena was sure that it would be a complete and utterly boring waste of three hours, which, indeed, it was, until the man asked her what hobbies she had. Partaking in these, he said, could reduce her stress and anxiety levels dramatically if she were to release her energy into them rather than keeping her anxiety bottled up inside. Ice skating was the first activity that came to mind. Besides being in the garden and admiring its flowers, the frozen ballet-like sport reduced her stress level like nothing else could. The psychiatrist, however, appeared very shocked to hear this, as his eyes grew very wide and he tried to suppress a surprised chuckle. Apparently, he had thought that Serena, having such difficulty with numbers, would have had even more difficulty with any form of dance, as it required an intense comprehension of left and right. That made her angry, because, on the contrary, if there was one thing she could do perfectly, it was move her feet gracefully on any ballroom floor, regardless of what the floor was made from.

Queen Serenity had taught her daughter the art of figure skating when the child was seven years old, and she had been in love with it ever since. Unlike Princess Lita, however, Serena had declined to be in any competitions with other skaters because she did not want the sport to turn into just that: a competition. She wanted it to remain fun and something all her own, not something that she had to fight for to be good at or something that put a lot of pressure on her. She was not a competitive person by nature, anyway. Far too much drama went into being so, and she knew that she would have plenty of said drama when she became the Moon Queen. All of the so-called "problems" that she had now, were, according to her mother, Luna, Artemis, Mrs. Kendrick, and every other influential adult she had ever known, were nothing compared to those she would be facing as a grown woman. So why make it any harder on herself now?

And so, following her visit with the psychiatrist, Serena made it her responsibility to make sure that she sat aside time every night for ice skating, no matter how late it was.

It was a hot early evening in the middle of August when Serena had finished her homework surprisingly quickly and decided to go to the skating rink. She was all too excited to go, as, this time, it was early enough that she did not have to worry about heading to bed too late. She would have hours to skate tonight!

The rink itself was located down in the lowest level of the palace and was the only area that was accessible to civilians, complete with members of the Royal Guard always keeping watch, just in case. As ice skating was a very popular sport on the Moon, and lakes and ponds were only frozen for about two months or so out of the year, Queen Serenity had decided to allow the construction of the frozen rink for the citizens' enjoyment. Serena was especially glad that it was located inside the palace rather than in some remote building in the heart of town, as it provided her with easy access. She often wondered with a fond smile if her mother had been thinking of her daughter when making the decision where to place it.

Upon opening the doors to the rink, she noticed with pleasure the rush of cold air that met her. It was a lovely thing to experience after a day of such heat. She sat down on one of the mahogany benches and put on her socks and skates. Several civilians greeted her with small bows and curtsies as they walked or skated by. Really, such attention displeased her, as it was so superficial. Were these people bowing because they really adored and respected her as their Princess or merely because they were afraid that if they declined to do so, then the Queen would punish them? Queen Serenity herself was certainly not a tyrannical ruler. In fact, everything that Serena had seen pointed to the belief that the Lunarians, as well as the other residents of the Silver Millennium, loved the Moon Queen with all their hearts. She was kind, she was gentle, and she advocated peace to the best of her ability. But, Serena, of course, was not her mother, so people's specific opinions of herself were largely unknown.

Well, to her, that is.

Nevertheless, she smiled and nodded back politely and made her way onto the rink, her feet gliding with ease onto the ice. To her, skating was no different than walking. After the first few steps she had taken as a little girl, it had become second nature to her. She would have loved to live on the ice if given the chance.

She slid and twirled and twisted and leapt across the smooth surface, not paying attention to what the many civilians around her were doing. They had a habit of clearing out room for her as soon as she made her way onto the ice. Again, she did not like this. She wished to be treated like any other teenager. Her mother never spoiled her or gave her special treatment. In fact, the Queen probably expected more out of her daughter than most civilian mothers did of their own. So why would the civilians themselves insist on treating her differently? Was that, too, a superficial act? She had no idea, but it was annoying. So, she did her best to ignore it when she had the option.

She was unaware of how much time had passed by when she heard the clear sound of someone calling her name, or her title, as it were, from somewhere outside of the rink.

"Princess Serenity!" the voiced repeated, this time with more insistence and command.

Serena stopped her gliding and groaned, because by that second utterance of her name, she knew who the voice belonged to.

So much for spending hours in the rink…

She turned with great irritability to face her caller, but soon became perplexed, as she was unsure exactly where the black cat was.

She looked about, but saw no one but the civilians who were trying their best to act as if they were not curious as to why the Princess was being summoned.

"Luna?" she asked, her eyes still scanning the large room with uncertainty. "Where are you?"

It was then that she saw a slender woman with long dark hair waving at her from inside the door of the rink, and she was hit with realization.

"Oh Luna! Forgive me. I'm sorry. I was looking for a cat. I didn't recognize you!" In a way, she felt quite stupid for not noticing Luna's human form immediately. But, then again, she had only seen Luna and Artemis in these forms a handful of times, if that. So she had good reason for not remembering what they looked like.

She skated off the rink and approached Luna at the door. The Princess did not have to ask whether or not Luna's summoning her was of importance. It always was, so she did not hesitate to remove her skates and socks to put on her formal shoes.

She did, however, ask what that importance was. "What's going on?"

Luna led her out of the heavy glass doors and up the stairs to the main area of the palace. "My Lady would like you to be present for the signing of the Trade Agreement we are having with Earth."

"What?" Serena stopped in her tracks. "Trade Agreement with Earth? Whose idea was that?"

While it was true that Serena had spent a considerable amount of time this past month asking her mother incessantly about Earth and its culture, and just exactly how its ruler ship and the lifespan of its citizens were grounds for forbidding interaction between them and the rest of the Solar System, she did not believe that she had that much influence on the Queen's decisions. Building an ice rink for purposes of sport and enjoyment was one thing, but the decision to implement something as serious and long-lasting as a trade between the Moon Kingdom and a planet that there had been very little contact with in the past few centuries? That was something completely different. It couldn't possibly have had anything to do with Serena's questions. Could it? She was not that special. Not when it came to political matters, and what about all the Senators in Parliament? Did they all want this, as well?

"Certainly, it wasn't because of me?" She couldn't help asking.

Of course, Luna was there to give her answers. "Well, no, not entirely. It was actually something that she and the rulers of the other planets, Senators included, had been discussing for a quite a while before coming to the decision. Logically to them, most of them, as not everyone can be in agreement, it did not seem appropriate for trade and interaction to be completely prohibited, especially when doctors and scientists already had the right to travel to and from the planet for medical research, and to that I must concur. How is trade any different?"

This last question was obviously rhetorical, because the Queen's adviser kept talking without waiting for any response from the Princess. "But, I do believe that your ever-so constant inquiries about the planet did affect her decision. So I wouldn't count yourself out."

Serena smiled slightly and giggled to herself. Well, then, maybe she was a tad special.

The two of them walked arm-in-arm through the halls until they came to a large white door made of oak that Serena knew to be the conference room. After all, she had fallen asleep there before, so it wasn't a room that her mother would allow her to forget.

But, instead of turning the golden knob to allow the Princess entry, Luna ceased to walked and turned to look Serena in the eye. "I hope you do realize how much your mother loves you," the woman said. "Everything she does is connected to you in some way, whether it seems so or not. She wants you to have a happy and satisfying life, but she also wants you to be a responsible leader; and no one has ever gotten anywhere by taking it easy."

The smile that had been on the girl's face for most of the walk to the room was slowly replaced by a scared frown, along with an enormous rock of guilt that suddenly dropped in her stomach.

"I am in no way trying to make you feel bad nor am I insinuating that you don't appreciate her." Luna reached out and touched Serena's cheek. "But sometimes I do get the feeling that you don't understand the value of the sacrifices that Her Majesty has made for you. You are all she has, and you shouldn't take that for granted." She stroked a piece of the Princess's blonde hair. "I'm only reminding you, my dear." Serena nodded again. This time, stiffly and mutely.

She gave the young girl a smile as if she did not notice the look on her face at all, embraced her lightly, and opened the door.

And in that moment, Princess Serenity's life changed forever. _upside-down._


End file.
